Folks, looking for input on a boat for friend. Will be used on your typical Class III / IV Oregon and Idaho rivers with most of the river time on Deschutes. Gear boat that may get used once in blue moon as paddle boat. Looking for input on "cheaper" boats and one that I could roll / store if necessary.

Assuming cost is of little consequence at the sub $4,500 price point for just the rubber, what would you guys recommend:

Aire 14D: Love the limited lime and the fact that the straight section is plenty long for a good sized frame. Warranty is nice but highly doubt this boat will get enough mileage to care.

Aire Tributary HD 14: Flat section @ 68" seems terribly small and the thing has a bit of kick ---- maybe too much. Positive is that this is a very wide boat, should fit Yeti 125 and 38" Drybox.

RMR Dropstitch 14: Like the color options and would only go with upgraded floor; does this floor option put it firmly ahead of the Aire Trib? Extremely narrow boat.

Hyside Pro 14: A bit higher priced but these guy have good sales in offseason. Are hysides clearly better than every other boat on here?

Ya know, never thought I'd hear myself say this, but i might actually go with the aire. The more I learn, they are seeming like possibly the best value in a new boat. You could save some $ with a Trib, but I really like having a boat that will hold it's value, and there 10 year, no fault warrenty is amazing. Heard of someone dragging a boat down the highway, and having it replaced.

I'll let folks that own one weigh in though, I run a 14' Nrs E, awesome boat that will LAST, but price is higher by quite a bit.
Thinking about an Aire Lion for my next gear hauler, since won't need it to paddle boat, as I'll keep my NRS, (love that boat).

For a gear boat on Oregon and Idaho rivers....at least 16 footer hands down. If you were NOT going to paddle raft it then i would say 18. I used to paddle raft guide using 16 footers all of the time. Obviously, the 14 footer will be more "sporty" but it if you are going to run it as an oar boat on extended trips with passengers and gear more space the better. My wife and I have had a 16 footer forever. we are looking for an 18. With us 2, she still has room to stretch out on the "queen's" lounge easily where as not so much on our 14 footer. This summer, we did a June Main Salmon trip. Our niece came with us too. Even though we had no problems, I wish we had the 18 for more space. We want the 18 for 10 day or longer trips down the lower salmon or the canyon. Incidentally, I have done 10 day trips down the lower Deschutes when I had my 15 foot riken bucket boat with 2 plus me. But, that was 30 years ago. Also, during high water (cold water and weather) season, the bigger the boat the dryer the ride. We do, however, use our fourteen for real small stuff. If you get much smaller, like in the 300cfs range you have to resort to backpacking gear, which we have done in self supported IK trips. Bottom line...get one of each size and call it good.

I don't know how many people you are planning on taking so maybe a 14 will work. I have a family of 6 including me. I read a lot of posts on here that said you could do it in a 14. I wanted to believe, so I did. I bought a 14. Once we did some overnights, we realized no way that was that going to work! It wasn't hard at all to convince my wife we needed to go bigger. Now I have a 16 too. The 14 is rigged to paddle, the 16 to row. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. Go 14. Then go 16.

Not sure where you're getting this info OP...
14D does not have a lot of straight section, 14R would make more sense. The RMR is not narrow at all...prob wider than all of the others, unless you're talking about a Hyside 14xt????